Episode 128: Kevin Kline

In this episode of Reel Turf Techs, we sit down with Kevin Kline, an equipment manager who has had quite the journey into the turf industry. Kevin shares how he started in the turf program at Ohio State University ATI, but his path took a detour as he ventured into electrical work and later became the director of facilities at a community college in Ohio. Years later, an unexpected job ad led him back to the golf course, where he now manages over 300 pieces of equipment at a private 38-hole facility.

Kevin discusses his love for golf, averaging 110-150 rounds a year, and how that passion for the game ultimately guided him back to the golf industry. He also highlights his goal to connect with members through weekly rounds and a league he set up for the Green staff. Tune in to hear Kevin’s unique journey, his thoughts on balancing work with his passion for golf, and how he brings his experience from multiple industries into his current role.

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Transcript

Trent Manning: 0:05

Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we'll learn tips and tricks. I'm your host, Trent. Manning let's have some Reef Welcome to the real turf text podcast, episode 1 28. Today, we're talking to Kevin Klein. Northern Ohio golf course equipment manager. And Northern Ohio golf course. Superintendent association liaison. Kevin is a equivalent manager at a 38 hole private facility. He has a head technician. An assistant plus a part-time real tech. Let's talk to Kevin. Welcome Kevin to the RealTurf Techs podcast. How you doing today?

Kevin Kline: 0:57

Doing really well. How are you doing today?

Trent Manning: 0:59

I'm good. I'm good. Yep. It's uh, it's Monday. So it wasn't too bad of a Monday. I can't complain.

Kevin Kline: 1:06

Monday is my favorite day of the week.

Trent Manning: 1:09

Why is that?

Kevin Kline: 1:10

Because nobody else likes them and I like to be a little different.

Trent Manning: 1:13

Oh, all right. Well, nothing wrong with that for sure. Cool. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.

Kevin Kline: 1:19

so I graduated from high school and, uh, started at OSU ATI in the turf program there. Uh, I went there from 93 to 94. And then, uh, I only have two classes to complete my turf degree, but I got into doing big construction electrical and did that for 20 plus years. And then I was the director of facilities at a, uh, small community college in Ohio. that for seven years and I saw an ad one day for equipment manager and I was like, I can probably sort some rackets and do that at a private club and here to come to find out. It's a equipment manager running somewhere close to 300 pieces of equipment. So I got back into golf. I average anywhere between 110 and 150 rounds of golf a year. So, I love to play golf and why not? work at a golf course. We are a 38 hole facility. So, uh, 100 percent completely private. So, it's a good time.

Trent Manning: 2:24

Yeah, that's awesome. How often do you get to play on your course?

Kevin Kline: 2:28

Uh, I play at, well, I play with the membership group on Wednesday nights. One of my goals was to meet as many members as possible. So there's about 25 of us that meet, uh, and play on Wednesdays. And then I try to play with the guys. Uh, I set up a league this year on Sunday evenings for Green staff. Uh, we have, we carry about 52 staff in the summertime, so just to allow them to get out and play. I, uh, started a league this year and they get out and we play, we're some type of game that, that I stole from the members that I play with. So, we just get out and enjoy. The first week we had like six or eight, though last week we had 20. So

Trent Manning: 3:13

Okay. Yeah, that's cool though. That's awesome. So I guess you enjoy golf. Before you ever went to ATI, right?

Kevin Kline: 3:22

Yes, yeah, I played high school golf and all that too.

Trent Manning: 3:25

And when you went to ATI, were you planning on working full time at a golf course?

Kevin Kline: 3:31

Yeah, I wanted to be a greenskeeper back then. So, so I did my internship and I decided that when I played golf at the place where I did my internship, I found myself carrying around a notebook and finding all the stuff that we had to do all day long. And, uh, the next day I went in and told the guys, you know, this is what we, uh, it started affecting my golf game. And then I was like, eh, maybe I don't want to do this. So, cause I wanted to play competitive golf. So,

Trent Manning: 3:57

Yeah.

Kevin Kline: 3:58

I belonged to Northern Ohio Golf Association and playing events for them. So I don't know. I just like competitive golf. So I, it kind of was like eating away at me that I had saw all this stuff that needed done at the golf course. And then, My golf game started to go, I chose to change my profession instead of finding that work life balance type.

Trent Manning: 4:21

Oh, nothing wrong with that. That's cool. That's cool. So do you relief grind at your club? No.

Kevin Kline: 4:29

Two years ago, the year I started here in 22, we sent out all of our fairway mowers to be relief ground. In January of this year, we are purchasing our own relief grinder for all of our fairway units. So, we only relief grind the fairway units. So, we've had a lot of success in spin grinding. They're like 40 percent right now. So, when we grind for the last time of the year to get ready for next spring, we'll look at those units and we'll probably go ahead and relief grind them

Trent Manning: 5:02

When you Do you really grind? How far or how much relief do you put in?

Kevin Kline: 5:10

about 80%.

Trent Manning: 5:11

80 percent

Kevin Kline: 5:12

Yeah, we don't go all the way back because, if we need to put more on later in life, we're going to have our own grinder, so, I'd rather go, instead of going all the way back and then causing a problem or something happening, Rather go back 80%, and that's what we did when we did the When we sent him out, we went to 80%. I didn't have him go.

Trent Manning: 5:32

Okay, no, that's cool. Yeah, I mean everybody's different strokes different folks

Kevin Kline: 5:37

Yeah.

Trent Manning: 5:37

Backwards in it in a different folks different strokes Tell me something you fabricated lately

Kevin Kline: 5:44

I am working on a prototype. I actually have installed it. I'm putting a toolbox underneath my elite. golf carts. there's a spot, the elite carts from Cushman that have chargers on board. The battery sits back back underneath of the, uh, bed. So what we, what I did was I put in a toolbox, upright nice sturdy one. just got it on Amazon. It stands the tools up. I can put a, I put a, organizer in there, washers, nuts, and all that kind of stuff. And then put a bag, a roll bag of tools in there that has all my sockets and everything in it. That thing works great. I drove around the golf course and hit just about every bump possible and I didn't lose anything. So, I actually showed it to the golf course superintendent today and he's like, uh, it looks like a pretty good idea. So maybe, I mean,

Trent Manning: 6:39

Okay. Yeah.

Kevin Kline: 6:41

We've got 11 of those carts. So, I mean, and. Tools getting wet in the back of the, and then trying to throw hose reels in there and all that kind of stuff is just big pains. We're going to try this now, I think.

Trent Manning: 6:55

Yeah. No, that's a great idea. And yeah, thank you for sending me a picture of it because uh, I got 23 of these carts between both clubs and uh, I think I'm gonna add that to the arsenal. Maybe not on every cart but definitely the manager's carts and

Kevin Kline: 7:13

Well, we thought the irrigation guy, uh, he looked at it today and he's like, oh, I'm getting one of those. I'm like, well, I'll probably be ordering at the beginning of the year. We're going to order and then fit all, fit everybody that needs them. Uh, probably like you said, the manager's carts, maybe not the golf course superintendent, but, uh, he was thinking of a way to. put something with his, uh, rain gear and all that stuff, which would work too. I mean,

Trent Manning: 7:39

Oh, yeah. That's a good idea.

Kevin Kline: 7:40

throw that in there and then he can throw some wrenches and stuff in there and maybe a prism if he needs to or whatever. So, And he was worried about tools bouncing out, but like I said, I, Jumped a couple of today and I didn't lose any tools.

Trent Manning: 7:56

Put her through the paces, huh?

Kevin Kline: 7:58

Yeah, there's pretty much no way that tools are going to fall out of there. And then I took bungee cords and to the, it comes with a strap that you can put over your shoulder. I filed that and then use bungee cords to go down underneath. the frame and right back through that hole. So it actually holds the thing down tight to the, so it doesn't bounce up and down. So

Trent Manning: 8:21

Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool.

Kevin Kline: 8:24

it's a work in progress and I'm sure we'll probably change it 10 more times, but it's a pretty good start. So,

Trent Manning: 8:30

What I think it'll be something that easy go eventually or Cushman eventually, yeah, incorporates into their accessories.

Kevin Kline: 8:39

charge. 200 or

Trent Manning: 8:41

What? Yes. Yeah, right, right, right.

Kevin Kline: 8:43

40.

Trent Manning: 8:45

Tell me what your favorite tool is.

Kevin Kline: 8:47

My head technician and I were talking about, the first year I was here, he wasn't the head technician yet, but he was looking through Amazon and we were looking for something to make our oil changes easier when The equipment was up on the rack. So, we found form a funnel. They're on Amazon. You buy a two pack. One's a short one. One's a long one. It just instead of stuff dripping off of arms and everything else they work out real well. I mean, They form to whatever, and then when you're done with, uh, draining the oil, you put the drain plug in and turn it around and you can use it for a funnel to go back in to the, you know, to get to those hard to reach spots on pouring oil back into them.

Trent Manning: 9:34

Yeah I saw it for the first time on Hector's shop. And this was years ago. It was one of his earlier videos. And, uh, got one after seeing it there. And yeah, I mean, it's just so handy. I don't know why some of the engineers that work for these companies can't put a drain plug, you know, in the spot where it would go straight into an oil pan. But they struggle with that.

Kevin Kline: 9:59

they probably need to stand underneath a machine and drain the oil one time, without a form of funnel. And they would figure out, you know, when I was in the electrical world the state of Ohio has changed when you get your electrical engineering license. You have to have two years of, you know, In the field work. So either as a installer or as a like a project manager or something like that before you can get your stamp. So, some of these engineers that build these machines for us, they probably ought to have that before they.

Trent Manning: 10:34

Yep. Some practical

Kevin Kline: 10:35

Practical. Yeah.

Trent Manning: 10:37

Yeah, that would be good. What do you do to relax or find your balance?

Kevin Kline: 10:42

So, like I said, I play a lot of golf. Competitively. I play in probably, I think I just played Friday. I played in my 16th tournament for the year. Just scrambles, usually benefits. Uh, I do a lot of benefit golf play play golf with my dad a lot. I've played, I just recorded round 107. my goal for, my personal goal was 150. I have till December 31st. So I'm pretty sure I'll reach that.

Trent Manning: 11:12

Yeah, you can get that in. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. How's your dad?

Kevin Kline: 11:17

My dad's 76. And the last time we played, he shot 75. So he's still shooting his.

Trent Manning: 11:25

Wow. That is awesome.

Kevin Kline: 11:27

Yeah. He's got a good swing coach. I've been teaching golf since I was. Uh, 18, I went to Florida for six weeks and learned how to teach, so, I teach a lot of high school kids. Just pro bono because without golfers, we don't have jobs on the golf course, let alone Golf clubs, so, I sell golf clubs on the side too.

Trent Manning: 11:48

Okay. Awesome. That's so cool. Yeah. Who would have thought? What's uh one of the strangest things you've seen around the golf course? Yeah,

Kevin Kline: 12:03

road views, north course and south course telephone poles. We have lights around one of the event centers, little short lights. Seems like the Ventrac and the Steiner operators ring themselves around that and as soon as they get in there, they're like, Oh, I can get myself out and jimmy in around and Turn around. It looks like a horseshoe ringer without hitting the post. I mean, just since I've been here, it's happened six times and I have pictures of all of them. So there, you know, it's like a fresh thing. I teach it in the spring to the new operators. It doesn't fail. Three weeks goes by. Oh, I thought I could get out of this. They're not getting out of it.

Trent Manning: 12:51

the harder you work to get out, the tighter it brings you in.

Kevin Kline: 12:54

And I, you know, You know, the first time it ever happened, I was like, oh yeah, I can get that off of there without, you know, calling a tractor. I should have called that tractor first.

Trent Manning: 13:04

Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, I've been there. Yep, I guess anybody that's been on a Ventrac or a Steiner, they've probably been there. If you've operated at any length of time, you've had it happen. What's one of your pet peeves around the shop?

Kevin Kline: 13:20

So it happened again today, uh, shop tools being left out. I was doing a walkthrough today. Uh, I know somebody that was working on something last Thursday when I was here. Tools just laying out. Rags still there. pieces, parts, stuff that they took off in every place, still laying there. Just put it away. I mean, I don't care if you have to Go get the tools back out after you've made your adjustments, because I know they're not going to come back and put it away. So put it away the first time. And then what happens is I put it away or one of my technicians puts it away and then they're, they come back and it never fails. Hey, where'd those tools go? And it could be like 3 or 4 days later. I had them out for a reason. Well, put them away. And then you just keep going. I mean, so, you know, they always tell me that it's the tool fairies that leave them out

Trent Manning: 14:15

Uh, uh

Kevin Kline: 14:16

then it wasn't me. It wasn't me. I did. I didn't do that.

Trent Manning: 14:19

Yep.

Kevin Kline: 14:21

I just put it away.

Trent Manning: 14:22

So that happens at your course too?

Kevin Kline: 14:25

Yeah. So when I first started here, when I first started here, the main technician that was here, he's like, the guys complain that, you know, they can never find anything. Tools are being left out. I mean, we try as hard as we can. Can to put our tools away. If you know, I have technicians that we, that leave work on Thursday and don't come back for the weekend. And then one guy that works through Saturday and then, you know, at the end of their day on whatever day they end on for their week, they put their stuff away. I mean, it's everybody. And I hate to say it, it's everybody else. I mean, it happens.

Trent Manning: 15:04

Yeah, it happens and definitely some people are better than others.

Kevin Kline: 15:09

Oh yeah, there's, well, at the beginning of the year when we went through, built two brand new buildings recently, and in the spring we opened them and, you know, everything was, yeah, let's do it, you know, get, let's keep this place clean, and then today we did a walkthrough and I'm like, this is, you know, not the way it's supposed to be. They forgot, they must have forgot how to do it. So, we'll train them again this year and then next year this time we'll train them again.

Trent Manning: 15:35

Yeah. How often do you go through the training with?

Kevin Kline: 15:39

the full timers will get it done twice. Uh, they get it done about every six months. And then uh, I just sat down. I'm the safety guy for our department now too. So, I run all of our, uh, monthly safety meetings and I'm now on the corporate safety committee. So, I have to put together a 52 week training so it's toolbox talks every Monday starting January 6th all the way till December 29th. So I just laid out 52 weeks of training and I'm getting ready to do fourth quarter training now for fourth quarter coming up just as a pilot for next year to see how it's going to go. But we have 52 people in the summertime, so. It's hard to wrangle in all those people. We hang it up, they sign it, they read it. As soon as their name goes on the board, I go, actually go to them and talk about you know, normal everyday stuff, but then throw in a couple of those questions that I know that if they've read it or not, so then I go. you know, then they have to reread it. But, you know, it's, the point is trying to get the high level part of it together. So that way we're teaching them exactly what they need to keep to stay safe. So,

Trent Manning: 16:56

Is that something you'd be interested in sharing?

Kevin Kline: 16:59

yes.

Trent Manning: 17:01

If you wouldn't mind. So, and this is something that, for the listeners, that I've thought about, and just hadn't really devoted the time to doing it. I have a website, and it could be a really good resource, you know, and there's no point in me recreating the wheel, you know, or reinventing the wheel. When there's guys like you that's putting stuff together and we could just put a link on there to you know, a google folder or whatever and You know share it with everybody. I think it would be a really good resource. So if you wouldn't mind Yeah, after we get off, that would be awesome

Kevin Kline: 17:38

Yeah. So what I'm, my goal is I have a safety committee meeting tomorrow as a matter of fact, but I'll be meeting with our safety director for here at work. She and I. came from the construction world. I built this for the construction world. I've built these for the college world, you know, facilities world. So I've got some background and then she's got some background in it also because she was the safety director for Ruland Company. But by putting this all together, I pull it from public OSHA knowledge. You know, we have, we take OSHA 10 training here for all of our full timers. There's a package deal that you buy and then, you know, the only thing that you have to do is than every year is bloodborne pathogen. You don't have to do any of that other stuff. And then there's a refresher course every three years for the guys that come back every three years, you know, And then we do CPR with our, and AED training with all of our, uh, fire departments. They are more than happy to do that. Most fire departments do that. They, uh, they're actually coming to Westfield and training 70 some of them this year. So,

Trent Manning: 18:50

Oh,

Kevin Kline: 18:50

but Yeah, I, it's not hard to do. I mean, I, like I said, I've drawn from a lot of the stuff that I've done in the college world and the construction world. So, as soon as I get everything scanned in, I'll share it with you and see what you think and all of that.

Trent Manning: 19:07

Yeah, for sure. And I mean, honestly, it's not, you know, it didn't what I think about it, you know, share it with everybody else. And, you know, and that's one thing. And I've had this conversation with other people in the industry to there's very few original ideas. And a lot of times we just still ideas from other people. And that's okay. You know, I mean, that's what we do here. And some of us,

Kevin Kline: 19:32

at Mike. Mike Rollins is one of the best teachers, uh, to put, you know, to put grinding in English for all of us to understand. And that's what I mean. That's what I'm doing is I'm putting a safety program together. That's, you know, it's a Already put together, you know, all you got to do is the stuff is all there and toolbox talks is probably the biggest thing That people don't understand that, you know, you deal with heat related you deal with bees you deal with, you know PPE all forms of PPE and you know slips trips falls All that stuff. I mean, it's all in our industry and people just don't think about it until something happens and they're like, Oh, yeah, we probably should have gone over that. Yeah, I'll be more than happy to share however you want. However, we want to do this. I mean,

Trent Manning: 20:22

Yeah. That'd be awesome. Yeah. We'll, uh, we'll figure that out. So how long is these toolbox meetings?

Kevin Kline: 20:31

so this is what I do is I have usually have two or two pieces of paper, you know, that have the high have the whole thing on it. I highlight the high level parts. I go over them. Literally, I read the highlighted parts, and I say, Guys, when you get a free moment, this is what the talk is about. When you guys get a free moment, ten minutes before you leave, you know, five minutes after launch, do whatever. Read these, sign your name. You know, so it's basically I tell them what the gist of it all. It's like five minutes every morning. I mean, every Monday morning is when we do them. So, and it's like five minutes. So, it's not, there's no, you know, it's right before everybody goes out to go, you know, get on the golf course and all that kind of stuff. As they come in, they read it, they sign it and by Friday I pull it and then I'm done. The following Monday I put another one up.

Trent Manning: 21:26

Okay. Cool. And yeah. So each week you're, do you highlight, you know, different things

Kevin Kline: 21:33

Yeah, so I do it by you know, cold weather's coming for us in Ohio, so it'll be cold weather, uh, PPE, cold weather, how you deal with, you know, extreme temperatures, uh, wind and all that, you know. So it'll be, wind will be one week, extreme temperatures next week. You know, so it's kind of like little short nuggets, but able to teach them, you know, kind of what, what's going on instead of giving them a 10 page piece of paper and expect them to read it. I don't expect that. So that's just, that's a waste of time. So,

Trent Manning: 22:08

No, I agree with that. Do you have a mentor in the industry?

Kevin Kline: 22:14

uh, many.

Trent Manning: 22:15

Many. All right. Let's go through a few of them.

Kevin Kline: 22:18

Okay. So, a lot of I apologize. deal with Kevin Kroll at Baker Vehicle. He's a ex superintendent, used to wrench on his own equipment does a lot of Jake stuff. I have a lot of Jake stuff here. So, not only, I mean, he's a salesman, but he's also someone that has, like I said, done all his own wrenching and worked through a lot of things. And he's a very quick, You know, hey, this is what I see, what's going on, da, and he's right there, uh, he'll stop at the course, he'll talk through with me on the phone just an all around good guy about, you know, taking care of things that he's seen and we can talk through things and not be, I'm not totally off base, you know, he'll wrangle me back in if I'm thinking about something that's left field, so, another big help is um, at SIP. He, we have a bed bar grinder from him. We have the 6, 000. So his help with how we look at cuts and all that kind of stuff. And then me being a member of the Northern Ohio Gulf Coast Superintendent Association, equipment manager, uh, liaison guy Gary Bagdansky from Sharon, Trent Weber from Kirtland, Nick Ballas from Barrington. Those guys are all in a chat group with me and we're throwing stuff as far as like, right now, aerification season. So, we're always talking about that. We're talking about what we see. We meet every month, you know, just to go over what Northern Ohio wants to do and then what we're seeing in the industry and making purchase decisions, but what we're You know, what they see compared to what I see and you know, just bouncing things off of people. Things and then reading your your manner of mind because you run that, run their WhatsApp. I mean, without that, I mean, 1100 messages the other day, I read every single one of them. I mean, I sat down last night and there was 153. Well, of those 153, about 40 of them pertained to what I was reading. Been dealing with, you know, equipment wise. So, you know, it's sometimes it's hard to catch up, but all that stuff is good stuff. I mean, I post pictures in the the autonomous mower stuff. I do all kinds of things. I mean, I try to be involved with that so that I can get feedback and people can figure out who I am too.

Trent Manning: 24:45

Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, I think that's good and That's what it's there for. It's just another tool in our toolbox, another resource that we got. And yeah, it's amazing with all the people in there and the amount of knowledge they have and more than likely, if you know you're having an issue with a piece of equipment, somebody else has seen it before, you know, and dealt with the same thing that you're currently dealing with. There's not that many new problems. You know, you get new equipment out and you know, maybe there's a few bugs here and there right out of the gate. But you know, the distributor people, they get that figured out pretty quick too.

Kevin Kline: 25:23

Yeah, exactly.

Trent Manning: 25:26

Yeah, I remember like, when I was working for Jerry Payton, riding the roads, me and Corey, we were on the phone, you know, we had so much windchill time. Anyway, we're on the phone every afternoon, like, Oh, I'm seeing this on 55 10. You seen that yet? They're like, no, I haven't seen. I'll look next time. You know, the next place they go. Oh, yeah. Yep. Yep. That's a problem. Yeah, all kinds of warranty work. Sorry Toro for that, but you know, we're keeping the customer happy. What would be your dream job or opportunity? Oh yeah,

Kevin Kline: 25:58

these people donating time for big golf events. And I see Mike Rollins, he spends a lot of time donating. With the grinding and all of that stuff for big events, so someday I want to volunteer for a big event, but I don't want to be like the equipment side. I want to be. I have, not a lot of input, but a lot of discussions with the turf guys. At the course I'm at with quality cut and height of cut and, you know, and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, maybe the guy in the morning that checks quality of cut with the prism, maybe be one of those guys, but, you know, just to be at a big event. And then possibly a play day that I could play a golf course that I don't get to play or that I dream about playing. So, I

Trent Manning: 26:46

for sure. And just about all these big tournaments, they have a play day for their volunteers. And most of the time, you can really kind of volunteer wherever you want to volunteer. You know, if you want to rake bunkers, they'll let you rake bunkers. You know, they need somebody doing all the jobs. And it's so rewarding, you meet so many good people. I mean, honestly, that's probably where I met Mike, I guess. I'm thinking back to it. I don't remember if we kind of, No. I met him at, uh, John Patterson's shop. Went, well, but he was up volunteering for, it was the women's something another tournament. And Mike was up and I went over just to hang out for a day. Yeah, so, it's amazing who all you can meet throughout the industry at these tournaments. Cause there's a lot of people there, a lot of volunteers. Great networking opportunity. Just like the conference and trade show is. What I love about task tracker is they're constantly innovating and listening to their users. They've added dozens of updates to make our job easier. One new feature is the ability to upload manuals to the equipment. All you have to do is scan the equipment. QR code. And you have the manual and all other information at the tip of your fingers. You can even create links to those manuals and the work orders. And it goes directly to the page that you need. Make your life a lot easier and check them out at AASB task. tracker.com. Let's get back to the episode What technician would you like to work with for a day?

Kevin Kline: 28:28

Kevin Henninger, just because he and I share the same name. No, I'm kidding.

Trent Manning: 28:32

Okay, so there'll be two cabins in one shop.

Kevin Kline: 28:36

yeah, Kevin squared. So Kevin was at OTF last year. Uh, I spoke at OTF last year about the autonomous mowers. He did some, uh, shop organization and just talking with him about, you know, building our new buildings and all that kind of stuff. And just going through the, he was just in Hector shop. a guest on there about setting up new bed bar resurfacing practices and that kind of stuff. We got, we just got new greens mowers recently. So just kind of picking brains on, you know, I'm kind of excited. He is speaking again this year, I believe. So, kind of just sit and talk to him and he's real good down to earth guy that, you know, just, and that accent of his is pretty awesome too. So,

Trent Manning: 29:25

Oh yeah, can't beat that.

Kevin Kline: 29:27

yeah. So I'm

Trent Manning: 29:28

I've said it on the podcast before, but I'm gonna say it again. You know, I'm from the south. So and everybody talks about southern hospitality down here and all those things. But honestly, we don't have nothing on Canadians. They are so nice and the hospitality is unmatched. And I've only been to Canada one time, but that was enough to prove it. Like everybody here is so nice. And maybe I just got lucky and run into a lot of good people. And you say accents. So when I was up there the lady, I'm trying to remember her name. I think her name was Kim something another that was the executive for this chapter that I was speaking for in Alberta. And, it was so funny. her jaw dropped when she heard me talk. And then she says, hang on just a minute. And she went and got a couple of her friends. And like, come over, you gotta hear this guy talk. So, evidently, I sound a little strange to them. And that's okay. But, uh, it did make me laugh. Yep. I've been talking this way my now you wish you'd known on day one?

Kevin Kline: 30:47

I consider day one as when I was in college working. I worked three years at Ashland Brookside Golf Course while I was going to college. I really wish I would have realized that, uh, you could have work life balance and be a golf course superintendent or even a technician. I mean, the golf course I was working at, We did some of our own wrenching too, so, I should. just probably should have it out and not an electrician for 20 years. But I mean, I made a good living as an electrician. I learned some stuff and now, you know, I, fire alarms are just like irrigation systems. So, but I just really wished I would have just stuck it out and received my degree. And, you know, I'd have 30 years in the business, 32 years are in the business right now. Yeah. And I could think about retirement at like 60 instead of like 90. So,

Trent Manning: 31:47

Well, hopefully, you don't have to uh work that long or if you do work that long, maybe you're just working part time and mowing fairways or something like that. Which I'm not gonna get on that soapbox. I do not think autonomous fairway mowers is where we should be starting because it's gonna take all these retired people's jobs away. Yeah.

Kevin Kline: 32:08

Not to get

Trent Manning: 32:10

Yeah.

Kevin Kline: 32:12

because I don't need one. I'm six foot nine. So, we Fairways, but we're also mowing roughs in areas that grow excessively and have really thick grass. keep them down and we aren't replacing workers. We are repurposing workers. The goal is to keep that staff and be able to cover vacations and do that kind of stuff. So that was the argument when I put my case study together that we don't lose people. We repurpose them to the finer sides of the golf course. So we're not losing anyone. We're gaining extra help in areas that we see in our operation that need those, you know, I consider us, we're not a top 100 golf course, but I consider our golf courses as championship golf courses. So, I mean, when you're dealing with something that's the fine tunings and things that people don't see and you're doing them right, then that's the goal of mine is to provide that. So that way we're, turning out a product that's even better and using the same amount of staff. So we're not really replacing anybody. We're getting the parts of the golf course that you can't get back to mow it twice a week or mow it three times a week or whatever. That's what we're doing. So, and we are mowing fairways too, but, You know, at the beginning of the year, somebody's going to have to mow those fairways because they can't mow them right out of the gate, so, and then I don't know what they do with leaves yet because they're on a golf course with no leaves, so.

Trent Manning: 33:55

Yeah. That must be nice. Wow.

Kevin Kline: 33:57

have 15 trees on our north course. Of those 15 trees, they are not in play unless you're a terrible golfer.

Trent Manning: 34:07

Okay. That's.

Kevin Kline: 34:09

so. I mean, there's no, I mean, we don't use, we hardly ever use buffalo blowers on the north. And we use it to do rough spots where, the grass is excessive. So, you know, our target is obviously to use those autonomous mowers in those areas,

Trent Manning: 34:26

Yeah. No. And it makes sense. And I guess my thought behind it is I would like manufacturers to focus on automating Jobs that humans do not like to do.

Kevin Kline: 34:42

like pick the driving range.

Trent Manning: 34:44

Pick the driving range, rake bunkers, fly mow, weed whip, weed eat, whatever you want to call it, string trimmer around trees. That's what we need to automate, not fairway mowers, because I mean, that's one of the easiest, funnest jobs there is on a golf course. So why take

Kevin Kline: 35:07

I've not been on a fairway mower this year, and I tried to get one on one this morning, but we got so much rain, we didn't mow fairway. One of my joys of the off season, you know, not, I mean the shoulder seasons when we don't have as many employees, I'm like, I really need to get on a mower because I need to know how they work. I mean, how are we doing for maintenance and all that? And they're like, yeah, we got too many operators. I'm like, doesn't matter. I still need to get on one.

Trent Manning: 35:36

Yeah. Yeah. It's uh I think that it's therapeutic getting on a fairway mower.

Kevin Kline: 35:42

what do you think? Have you seen the firefly?

Trent Manning: 35:45

Yes, I have. I have seen it.

Kevin Kline: 35:48

I'm not sold?

Trent Manning: 35:49

I hadn't seen it in person just you know on

Kevin Kline: 35:51

Yeah. I saw it on YouTube.

Trent Manning: 35:54

Yeah.

Kevin Kline: 35:55

I'm not sold because, you know, the adjustment screws and all that kind of stuff is just, I don't think it's, there's no way to trade.

Trent Manning: 36:03

well, yeah, I don't know. Hopefully, that was a misprint. Yeah.

Kevin Kline: 36:08

posted that, didn't you?

Trent Manning: 36:09

Yeah, well somebody

Kevin Kline: 36:11

and I went,

Trent Manning: 36:12

Yeah, six thousandths reel to bed knife adjustment when John Deere is five tenths and Toro is seven tenths. Yeah, so hopefully that was a misprint but Let's do some tips and tricks you ready

Kevin Kline: 36:30

Yes, sir.

36:30

Get ready for tips and tricks.

Trent Manning: 36:35

what kind of tips and tricks you want to share with us?

Kevin Kline: 36:39

we were talking about drain plugs earlier. our world, our second assistants help with, uh, services in the wintertime. Uh, never fails when we do second service in the spring. We're got a strip drain plug, uh, something like that. I have a welder on staff. He welds, uh, piece of bar stock on the drain plug. And we actually leave that there after we've welded that drain plug because it just teaches our guys when they go back and do it again in the fall we might put a new drain plug in it but we let them know this is you know, don't do this or make sure that you're doing it right. Telling us what's going on. Another thing, drain plugs. Uh, we've been adding drain plug extensions for our buffalo blowers. You have to loosen the motor to replace an existing drain plug. So, have to tip that motor up that you can put a new, one of those new fangled yellow plugs that you're supposed to be able to quarter turn and it opens the drain. Well, that,

Trent Manning: 37:41

Oh Yeah

Kevin Kline: 37:42

Those don't work real well. So we started putting, uh, drain extensions on so that we don't have to do that. And then we just drain the motor and it's good to go. We just have to add whatever the length of hose is. We have to add that to the oil, uh, because it comes all the way obviously out to that. So,

Trent Manning: 38:01

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Kevin Kline: 38:04

We've started this year putting MoDEC applications on the rear discharge mowers like our 9009 rotaries and our 7200 reel mower from John Deere. We found out it compromises the height of cut when that grass gets built up on those rear rollers. So, the MoDEC application, you apply it. every other time it's out. So we mow short, rough twice a week. every Monday after mowing, it gets put on. So then that way they know it just gets put on that day. So we've been doing that and had a lot of success. The mowing time has gone down about 40 minutes because they don't have to get off and clean those rollers off.

Trent Manning: 38:54

wow. Really? Okay.

Kevin Kline: 38:56

Yeah. With the rear discharge, they just get all gummed up and you know, we mow those before golf in the morning. So it takes about three hours to mow all the, those and it's down to about two hours and 15 minutes

Trent Manning: 39:09

Nice.

Kevin Kline: 39:10

the way around the course. So,

Trent Manning: 39:11

And is that uh metal rollers?

Kevin Kline: 39:14

uh, those are medical.

Trent Manning: 39:15

Yeah, like the OEM metal rollers. Yeah. Cuz and not that they're perfect but the golf cart rollers, they do help.

Kevin Kline: 39:24

Yeah, they do. We went to, uh, the replacements that we've been putting on the 9009 mowers are the Gofco rollers because I can buy a set of four of those or five of those at a lesser amount of money than buying, you know, five metal ones. I just don't like that ting noise when it goes across cart paths because, you know, guys can't just get right up to the edge of the cart path. They have to drive down the cart path.

Trent Manning: 39:52

Right, right. Yes. Yup. I don't know why that is but that's is what they do.

Kevin Kline: 39:58

I explain to operators all the time that they do that.

Trent Manning: 40:02

And for the listeners that don't know it, I know at least my distributors down here in the south, they will put golf co rollers on from the factory which is really nice. Yup. So, and everybody knows that golfers rollers are they're kind of pricey. But you work them into your package when you're buying a new unit, you know, and then you don't have to worry about it.

Kevin Kline: 40:34

They're in Oroville, which is two minutes from my house. But I asked them about, we blew through eight rollers from Ventrac. Those are four hundred and thirty eight dollars. And we did eight last year. So, you know, what, twenty seven hundred dollars or so? No, thirty eight. Thirty eight. 400. So I was like, what do you have for setup that we're doing wrong? And what they did was they gave me the book that the dealer gets, not the book that we get, the book the dealer gets. There's a whole setup page in there, how you set those rollers up. You can ask for those books. They said they'll send them to you all day long. So ours were in the wrong position. They were in position five and they should have been in position eight. We've used two rollers this year and one of them was my fault. I had knocked it off the thing. I hit a manhole cover. So, I mean, I absolutely stripped it out, destroyed it, blew it up. I mean, it was my fault. And then, so we've only used one. With the operator this year. So

Trent Manning: 41:38

Okay.

Kevin Kline: 41:39

going from eight last year to one this year, and it was just a wear problem on the one that we blew up. So, I mean. Having that thing set up right is obviously the key to everybody, but that book is not available to technicians, unless you know somebody.

Trent Manning: 41:58

Yeah. And

Kevin Kline: 41:59

Anybody that has a, anybody that has a Ventrac out there has a right to email the, their teaching people, and they'll send it to you, even if it costs you a ton. 10 bucks. It's way worth it because there's a lot of information in there that's not in the manual.

Trent Manning: 42:18

Yeah, I don't, it's a shame that distributors or dealers, whoever, manufacturers do that. And, I mean, that's one of my gripes with John Deere, is they don't make more of that stuff ready, available. I love Toro because they put all that stuff out there. And, you know, one thing is you might have to have 25 different manuals for this one machine with Toro, but, uh, at least you can get it. And that is, that's a good thing. And, you know, deer, I don't know if they'll ever get on board, but hopefully all the other manufacturers kind of follow suit because that's definitely the way it

Kevin Kline: 42:59

Yeah, definitely.

Trent Manning: 43:01

You want to talk about the Northern Ohio? Golf course superintendents association.

Kevin Kline: 43:07

Yeah, so I'm the, I was appointed the Northern Ohio Golf Course Superintendent Association Equipment Manager Liaison. That's a huge, I don't even know how you do that. N O G C S A E M L,

Trent Manning: 43:21

Yeah. Yeah.

Kevin Kline: 43:23

anyway, I'm very passionate about this program. We're trying to grow I did get a hold of the lady at G C S A, uh, Diana,

Trent Manning: 43:31

Yes. No,

Kevin Kline: 43:45

I'll be sending those out soon of just trying to put together some trainings and trying to make it beneficial. A lot of pushback from area superintendents. We have a lot of public golf up here. And they think there's the superintendents think that they need to have their guys stay there. How is it beneficial and all that? So we're trying to explain that now. We're having three trainings. January, February, March. Uh, one every month. We know that the big show, the conferences in the middle of that, but the people that don't really get to go to the show, maybe we draw that interest. One of the big things that Northern Ohio does is the first year for technicians is free and then every year after that is only 45. So, you know, we're just trying to put something together that, you know, that we can grow and have a, uh, tight knit group that meets, we meet every four to six weeks in the summer, talking about what trainings we can have. We're now like I said, Diana Kern is helping me with, uh, applying for CTEM credits. Our training classes will be covered for GCSA CTEMs. And then I like the idea of you Some day coming up and, you know, let's talk about, or even, uh, like in the summer times when we're having our meetings, you know, sometimes we do a zoom meeting instead of having to get together all, you know, just come in and rap about, you know, what, you know, what we're seeing and all that kind of stuff. So, so we're trying to increase knowledge and then knowledge is power. And if we're helping one person, we may be helping a ton of people. In January, when I started as the liaison, we had three Uh, equipment technicians slash managers. We currently have 10. We are having a vendor day in October that I'm hoping to gain, you know, quite a few more. But, you know, it's just trying to explain the benefits of the, our group. You know, just guys, girls trying to. Learn the trade and trying to exchange information so that nobody feels like they're lost in a world of nobody's gonna help me. And then this opens up for the WhatsApp for the one that you run. You know, that information, you know, that Allows them to get on there and I need, I just saw Trent Weber just posted not too long ago on that, he's very active on there. I'm on there. Nick Ballas from Barrington. He's on there quite a bit. So yeah, it's just trying to build that small time Ohio community. So that way we have someplace to go to and don't feel overwhelmed with all the other big stuff.

Trent Manning: 46:33

I think it's, I mean, it's great what you're doing and yeah, thank you. And thank everybody else is contributing to that. And I don't remember. I was talking to somebody the other day. Actually it was Terry Apple. He's a EM at Overbrook in Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. And he called me because him and, uh, I can't, Mike Elliott and another Mike, I don't remember him, I apologize. What the other Mike's name was, but they were kind of tasked similar to you to be a liaison and help, you know, grow equipment managers thing. So anyway, he was just picking my brain when he called the other day, but, and I was telling him how awesome it is because he's doing it. You're doing it. Ben Beard got a lot of stuff going in Michigan and then Mitch Hunt has since took it over. Brian Eplin and Jordan Roth in Nebraska. They're getting stuff going, uh, Haas down in Florida and

Kevin Kline: 47:37

are the three people she gave me Haas.

Trent Manning: 47:40

Yeah. Well, yeah, you got it, man. You got it.

Kevin Kline: 47:43

The guy I was talking to a guy I had a guy here, uh, looking at our, uh, Jacobson 530s, uh, mowers, and he was from Pittsburgh, just a nine hole muni course We were talking to him about, you know, what Northern Ohio is doing and all that. And he's like, you know, Pittsburgh is big enough that they could have, you know, kind of like their own, but they don't have anybody that, you know, wants to jump in and do anything. And I, you know, I've talked to Ben Beard before Mitch took over and I'm like, you know, if let's partner with the, a few places, you know, Pittsburgh, he drove over that morning and he got there, got here at nine 30. So it's like two and a half hours from Pittsburgh. So it's not, I mean, we're not in the middle of nowhere by any means. I mean, and then Ben said, let's meet halfway and have like a little conference at a, you know, somebody's golf course or whatever. And then hopefully the O. T. F. Will open some people's eyes about what we're trying to do. And maybe we can get an Ohio group the full four sections of Ohio together and be able to Cincinnati kind of does whatever they want to do because they're kind of smaller. But, you know, Columbus and You know, and all that kind of stuff. It's just, I think the sky's the limit for what we want to do. And I think, you know, we've got a really good thing that it started and got a lot of good guys on. I mean, Gary's 40 some years in the trade.

Trent Manning: 49:15

Yeah.

Kevin Kline: 49:16

you know, and he's training new guys all the time in his, at his club. So, I mean, he's got a really good young technician there now that, you know, and then he's got, uh, they've been working, GCSAA has been dealing with ag programs. So we hired the ag instructor at a local school here, and we've actually started talking to her about going to her class, her ag class because of not just autonomous mowers, but you know, the geolink systems that we have on our, uh, Toro stuff, you know, the kids nowadays are so computer oriented that's all that stuff is. I mean, it's all computers.

Trent Manning: 49:55

Mhm.

Kevin Kline: 49:56

you know, it's exciting because I get to learn it, but I would think, you know, the big ag people would be like, Hey, this, you know, this might be someplace I want to go or diesel mechanics. Nick Ballast at Barrington, he's got a kid that's out of the JVS that is a diesel mechanic and he's doing an internship. He's actually doing, they've built an internship. He and Gary put something together and this is what they're going to learn. And, you know, it kind of. goes back to his instructor and says this is what he can learn. He doesn't have to curl under this big huge piece of equipment to do what we do at the golf course. So, I mean, the things that the ag world, those kids, you know, that they have soils behind them. They've got some turf, some, you know, they do all these tests and. You know, studies and all that stuff. And why not drop them right into the golf course where

Trent Manning: 50:54

Yeah, why not? Yeah, that is awesome. That's very cool. Very good stuff. Super exciting. You ready to do some rapid fire?

Kevin Kline: 51:06

Yes.

Trent Manning: 51:07

What's your favorite movie?

Kevin Kline: 51:09

Greatest game ever played the Francis Wimet story in the U S open.

Trent Manning: 51:14

Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to go watch that one. That's new to me. Yeah what year did that come out?

Kevin Kline: 51:20

I don't know. I've probably watched it,

Trent Manning: 51:23

Just a guess.

Kevin Kline: 51:24

Probably 98,

Trent Manning: 51:26

Okay. Okay. Alright.

Kevin Kline: 51:28

It's from the. It's from the 1921 U. S. Open. I think Harry Varden senior is the pro that's in it. So,

Trent Manning: 51:37

Okay. What would be your last meal?

Kevin Kline: 51:41

uh, steak, scallop, potatoes.

Trent Manning: 51:44

Alright.

Kevin Kline: 51:46

Yeah, it was raining. It was raining last night and I flipped open the golf umbrella and went out there and I grilled steaks.

Trent Manning: 51:53

Oh, nice. Awesome. What are you most proud of besides your family?

Kevin Kline: 51:58

Our equipment maintenance team. So, and I was hired in October 22. my head technician left in November of 22. I hired, seasonal employee that turned second assistant that turned head technician in May of 23. I added a second assistant in August of 23. And then we have eight full time employees in the winter time helping do cart maintenance and all of that, just changing oils, filters, trying to get through things so that we can get back out on the golf course and do trenching projects and stuff like that. So our team is probably. When we're clicking on all the cylinders in the wintertime, you know, we get stuff done. We the first year I was here, the goal was to get everything done by the 15th of March. Usually we're on the turf the following week. We actually put I think it was March 16th and 23. I put stuff on the turf, but putting stripes down. And then last year we were done with all services except for big tractors by, uh, February 10th. So we, I 300 pieces of equipment that includes the reels, but we take, we break down the reels. Grind them all, put them all back together, get them ready for the year. So, to be done in February, I think that was, that's our goal every year now.

Trent Manning: 53:20

No, that's awesome. Yeah.

Kevin Kline: 53:22

so we can help on the golf course when we got trenching. We do all in house trenching and all that kind of stuff ourselves.

Trent Manning: 53:29

Yeah what are you trenching?

Kevin Kline: 53:31

So, we're trenching drainage lines. So, we're doing they did a grow in and we blew the north gulf course up in 2019, uh, opened it in Labor Day of 2020. And then, just working out, you know, they say four or five years, you see the places that need to be drained out, so that's what we've been working on, so. We bought a stack trencher that lifts the dirt off the ground. That's probably the best thing ever invented right there,

Trent Manning: 54:00

Okay. Yeah, that is cool. Yeah I have seen those,

Kevin Kline: 54:04

yeah, it's well worth the money, I mean, and then we run workmans, and we got a, uh, Pronovost, uh, trailer, you know, Pronovost trailer, put 4000 pounds on it, no problem, so, uh, we run that thing, and then we reuse all that, so, uh, not back into the hole, but on the golf course later in life, so,

Trent Manning: 54:25

Okay. Cool. That's awesome. Yep. I love it. Well, let the listeners know how they can get a hold of you.

Kevin Kline: 54:32

on Twitter, now X, I'm KevinKlein39. and that's Klein with a K. And I looked at Facebook last night. I think I'm in 14 golf turf technician related things. Uh,

Trent Manning: 54:49

I didn't know there was that many.

Kevin Kline: 54:50

uh, there's some for Ohio, so I'm, and then there's a lot for autonomous mowers. So we're, I'm in like four or five of those. So, just trying to gain more knowledge, but and then on your real turf tech. What's up, I'm tall guy cutting short grass. So yeah, so

Trent Manning: 55:09

Awesome.

Kevin Kline: 55:09

out and get any questions. Just let me know.

Trent Manning: 55:12

Well, thank you so much, Kevin, for being on. I enjoyed this, as always. And I look forward to, uh, working with you in the future. And when you get that stuff together on your train and yes, send it over and I'll, uh, I'll throw it up on the website.

Kevin Kline: 55:28

Okay. I

Trent Manning: 55:29

And for all the listeners, start checking out the website and there's going to start being more stuff there. I'm telling you now, so it'll hold me accountable to get stuff on it. So if you hadn't seen some new stuff on it in the coming weeks reach out to me and let me know. And I would like to hit on one thing you're talking about talking to Diana. Definitely reach out to her and I mean all the people we named off in this. Reach out to them and if you need their number. I'll give you their number and, uh, I did not ask their permission. So hopefully they're okay with it. No, I mean, all those people, super, super good bunch of people. And I mean, that's what I've said it a hundred times, but that's what I love about this industry. A lot of really good people in it.

Kevin Kline: 56:22

I feel like everybody wants to help everybody else. I mean, that's what it's about. So, uh, I just appreciate the opportunity here. I mean, I've only been in the industry for two years again, but everybody's been very helpful. And I look forward to everywhere that everybody is that way, you know, I'm not coming to the show again until Orlando. So, but I will be there. Hopefully I'll be pretty close to CTM by then. So,

Trent Manning: 56:49

All right. And well, I will definitely see you at OTF this year in December. So, all right. Talk to you later. Thanks.

Kevin Kline: 56:57

all right. Thank

Trent Manning: 57:03

thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don't forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you'd like to discuss, or you'd like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.